


Starcrossed

by PetalsToFish



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The 100 (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Pining, Romance, So sue me, Strangers to Lovers, this is all because I rewatched the 100 and all I wanted was Grounder!James
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 07:16:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16236836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetalsToFish/pseuds/PetalsToFish
Summary: "You looked like a goddess amongst those flowers," he murmured, "like the earth had grown you herself, planting you there to lure me in, like a flower among the poisonous weeds." "Poisonous?" Lily furrowed her brow, "Why poison?" His eyes were dark and foreboding, "Because it's a tragedy that I can't have something so lovely." XxX Jily/The 100 crossover for Week 2 of Jilytober





	Starcrossed

Lily Evans spent her whole life dreaming about what it would be like to get out of the hole in the floor of the Ark. She wondered what it'd be like to break free of the taste of metal in her mouth and the cold walls of her cell. Lily's older sister, Petunia, used to try and tell Lily what it was like on the outside of the four walls that Lily was confined too. Petunia would weave stories about looking down at earth from above. She would tell tales about the greens and blues that swirled among cloudscape. Lily would listen to Petunia's stories when she was allotted time from her hole by their overpowering mother.

Lily was supposed to be a secret that no one on the ark could ever find out about. Their mother, Marie, had two children and it was a strict rule that she only have one. Since Petunia was the oldest, she was allowed to be known by the neighbors. She was allowed to walk freely through the halls and laugh with friends. Whenever Petunia came back from her training to work on guard detail, Lily would soak in every word Petunia uttered until it was time to go back into her hole.

Lily was sixteen when she finally rebelled against their mother. Petunia helped sneak Lily out to go to a dance with other kids their age. A surprise inspection cost Petunia her freedom, Lily her naivety and their mother was floated. Lily and Petunia were lucky, since both of them were under eighteen, they were safe from being floated alongside their mother.

But their younger age couldn't save them from getting picked to be a part of one hundred other juvenile delinquents sent to the Earth to find out if it was inhabitable after the catastrophic atomic age that destroyed the planet. Lily and Petunia were strapped in a drop ship that was headed for the greenest patch of earth in North America. Petunia had been frightened but Lily-Lily had dreamed for a chance to see the ground.

She'd tried to imagine blue covering the metal ceilings of the ark, reflecting a welcoming sky. She wondered what it would be liked to look up and see the sun, the moon and the stars. She'd tried to close her eyes and paint a picture of the trees with their green branches reaching for the sky. Swirls of blue and green floated through her dreams for years but Lily's dreams were nowhere even close to the reality of Earth.

The ground was a rainbow of colors; more than just swirls of blues and greens.

Lily's eyes currently stared out at a vast field stretching from the dropship side of the forest to the grounder-protected forest on the other side. When Lily had imagined Earth, she'd never imagined so much color. Petunia described Earth from the Ark and she only ever mentioned greens and blues so that's what Lily expected. The field was one of the many exceptions to the painting Petunia had painted in Lily's head as a child. The field was covered in soft pinks and dark purples that rippled together in the light breeze. Green rose up around the colors but didn't diminish the complexity in every flower, every butterfly and every bird that flew into Lily's line of sight.

The sky above the field was painted golden from the slowly descending sun. The moon would be up sooner or later. She'd have to get back to camp before dark but for now all Lily wanted to do was enjoy the tranquil smell that rose from the field of flowers. Lily knelt on her knees and collected stems in her hands, pulling the flowers to her face to smell the calming scents they offered.

Lily had fallen slightly behind the other members of the one hundred. Her group was supposed to be hunting for food. The grounders had poisoned their previously dried provisions and some of the younger kids were getting sick from not eating anything but pinenuts. Standing amognst the flowers Lily wondered if she ought to collect some of the flowers to dry them out and put them in the drop ship to help calm the anxiety ridden kids.

It was hard not to be anxious though.

The grounders, descendants from humans who had survived the nuclear destruction, were merciless and determined to kill anyone who came from sky crew. In the first week on Earth, the grounders had taken out five people. Now, almost a month into the war waging between sky and ground, they had thirteen graves outside of the dropship. The poisoned food had cost Lily's friends dearly. The younger kids were too afraid to eat anything else besides pine nuts and so the older kids decided to try and find something new to eat. They'd burned all the other food because of the poison.

Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon were leading the hunting party sent out to get food. They'd both stepped up as leaders when the drop ship crash landed on earth. Marlene's mother was assistant to the chancellor on the ark and Sirius-well he'd always loved an excuse for trouble. Marlene had picked Lily to be her second simply because the two girls had hit it off quickly, both of them able to reign Sirius in, instead of letting loose. Marlene didn't understand Lily's fascination with the ground but she appreciated Lily's loyal friendship. That, and Marlene was adamant about protecting Lily from another kid in camp named Severus Snape.

Lily was no hunter and her party knew it, so they didn't call for her to keep up as they split up and continued deeper into the forest. Marlene shot a single glance back, just to see where Lily was, but she only sent Lily a look to be careful.

Grounders could be anywhere.

Despite the hunting party drifting west, Lily could still hear Marlene's voice so she didn't panic and run to catch up with her friends as she explored more along the edges of the field. Lily swallowed thickly and stared at the flowers in her hands, thinking of her sister, named after a earth flower. Their mother had been ironic, naming both of her daughters after Earth plants. Not that Maria Evans ever considered the absurd thought that both of her daughters would die on the ground. Lily knew that if Petunia were still alive, there would've been Hell for Lily to pay for falling behind the group. Petunia would've screamed for an hour in front of everyone at the drop ship about how the grounders attacked when people were alone or not paying attention.

"My sister, my responsibility." Petunia would cry, "stop wandering off!"

Petunia had followed her own advice and never left the camp unless she was with some of the older guys. Lily found it ironic that Petunia was the one to die first. Petunia died from poisoning, she ate some of the food one of their scouts had brought back, not knowing grounders had poisoned the lot. The only reason the entire camp hadn't died was because a lot of them had gone to the fishing hole for the afternoon. Lily shuddered as she thought of coming back from the fishing hole and finding her sister's convulsing body in their shared tent.

There were thirteen graves all together, each of them unmarked. Lily knew that one day, her body would probably rest next to Petunia's grave. Despite having made it a month on the ground, Lily couldn't see the rest of the one hundred kids lasting much longer. They were running out of supplies and they didn't have any support from surrounding grounder villages. Unless the Ark finally got to the ground with soldiers, technology and food...the one hundred were all bound to die soon.

The only other prayer they all had was that Mount Weather, a security bunker left over from the apocalypse, existed. Carolynn had found a sign near the fishing hole last week that said Mount Weather, but with no directions it was about as helpful as the Ark. Marlene had wanted to hike west until they found the entrance to the bunker but being that the woods were filled with grounders, Marlene was forced to give up that original plan.

In a field of flowers, Lily felt safer than she did traversing the woods. She couldn't explain the calming effects of the flowers as she stepped farther into the field and then fell onto her back. She cradled her head in her hands as she stared up at the sky. The flowers towered over her as she lay there, contemplative. Golden shadows covered the earth as the sun started to set and flower leaves ticked against Lily's ear as she waited for her friends to come back from hunting.

Lily had spent years in space but never got more than a fleeting glimpse of the earth from above after she was found beneath the floor and sent to prison. She remembered straining over the guards as they pulled her to her cell. She tried her best to see earth before she was shut into the dark cells for the rest of her life.

Now, looking back, Lily should've known something was wrong when the guards told her that she'd get to stare at the Earth all she wanted if everything went according to plan.

Lily originally thought the guards meant that she'd have a window in her cell but instead they'd meant that she would be 1 of 100 guinea pigs sent from sky to earth. She would be a test subject, given the task to try and survive on the ground after humanity abandoned it.

Biological warfare made the earth uninhabitable so when Lily landed with the rest of the hundred, she assumed what everyone else did: they were the first humans on earth in over 300 years.

They were wrong.

Life found a way to survive somehow. There was proof of life in every swaying flower over her head and every call from the bird in the trees not too far from Lily. She'd seen a deer for the first time last week and wild horses inhabited the fields to the south of the dropship. Water rushed with white caps near the river and trees rose over the earth like giant protectors.

There were other humans to.

The grounders are the descendants of the humans that somehow survived the original nuclear wasteland. Life found a way to let those abandoned humans survive even the strongest of radiation waves. Just like humans adapted to life in space, the grounders' ancestors had adapted to a radiation spiked Earth. They wore animal skins, masks of bone and spoke in strange tongues. The grounders thrived, ruling Earth with bows and arrows for years, until Lily's people decided to come back down from space.

Now, Lily's people and the grounders battled for any habitable space. The grounders commander had sent his armies to kill them without even trying to a truce. Lily and her friends had the mark of death upon them from the moment the drop ship entered the Earth's atmosphere. Lily sighed deeply and she thought about her sister, who had been terrified of the grounders from the very first day. Thinking about Petunia made Lily's heart ache and she tried her best not to dwell. If Lily thought too much about it, she burst into tears.

Lily wasn't ready to face death quite yet, not when she'd just started really living.

Lily was slowly falling asleep in the field of flowers when she heard the screams coming from the forest, in the same direction that her friends had gone.

Lily froze as the shouting continued to echo across the field. She didn't dare move, amongst the flowers she was hidden, and Lily knew her red hair would be a dead giveaway amongst the green trees. She prayed Marlene and Sirius would make it out alive. They'd become like family and she couldn't imagine going back to the drop ship without them.

Lily listened closely, trying to figure out what direction the screams had come from, but had no success in tracking the noise because it grew silent almost abruptly. Then Lily heard a gunshot and someone calling Marlene's name. Goosebumps rose on Lily's arm and she felt a single tear slip from her eye. The teardrop slipped down her cheek, creating a trail through the dirt on Lily's face. Terror was a emotion Lily was all to familiar with and she struggled with the crippling fear of being trapped in the flower field while someone was being killed only a few trees away.

She heard heavy footfalls coming from the forest. Someone was running towards her and she didn't know if it was friend or foe. Lily closed one eye but kept the other open so she could at least look upon the face of the man who would likely kill her. She clenched her teeth and her hands as the footsteps fell closer.

She was going to die.

She was going to bleed red in a field of lavender.

She would stare at the sky as she slipped away, questioning what she had done to deserve the short and unfair life she'd been dealt.

Another tear slipped down her cheek. Lily twitched as the footfalls got closer and someone shouted in foreign tongue. A grounder. The shadow fell over her, the setting sun creating the outline of a tall and muscular man wearing a deer pelt and a deer skull on his head. Antlers rose up around the top of his head. He had stopped short at the sight of Lily laying there amongst the flowers, her red hair fanning out behind her like a trail of blood. He tilted his head at her and she was surprised to see a flash of a white smile but Lily's eyes transfixed by the blood stained spear in his tanned hand.

"Skaikru?" He barked at her, raising his weapon and Lily flinched, he dropped it slightly.

He shifted and Lily could see his face better. His strong jaw was locked as his hazel eyes traced the picture in front of him. Lily supposed it had to be odd for him to see a sky girl basically sleeping, weaponless, in a field of lavender. Lily had to admit, she would've questioned the smarts of the person in question as well, if it hadn't been her making the mistake.

"Skaikru?" He repeated, albeit less aggressive.

"Yes." She managed, gasping in fear and pressing her back into the dirt as he knelt down and pointed his bloody spear at her neck.

Someone called suddenly from the trees and Lily froze again as the antler adorned grounder turned. He was layered in pelts that had to be sweltering but he didn't even look like he was sweating. Lily watched his fingers push through his messy black hair as he answered the call of his fellow grounder.

"Gonasleng sleng."

"Please," Lily whispered, " _please_ don't kill me."

The man turned back to her with an odd expression. It was as if he was uncertain of her presence in the field, like he didn't know why she existed.

The companion called hastily, "Jus drein jus daun."

The man in front of her seemed to lose energy suddenly, his shoulders collapsed as he stared down at her, "Jus drein jus daun."

Lily shook her head as tears flowed freely. The man got closer and placed his weapon on her neck, she could feel the cool blade and she winced. Lily watched wearily as the grounder put a finger to his lips. It was as if to tell Lily to be quiet...even though she had said nothing yet. His knife moved and she squealed. Suddenly, his hand covered her mouth quickly so that her scream became muffled. Lily bit his hand and he retracted quickly, staring at his hand in disbelief and then at her with a weird look in his eyes.

"Odon." He announced to his companion.

Before he walked away from her he glared and put a quick finger to his mouth again. Lily watched with alarm as the grounder just ran off. His hair bounced around his crown of antlers and she thought that when he looked back, he had a trace of a smile on his lips. The entire situation kept Lily frozen on the ground. A grounder walked away from killing a member of sky crew. Lily knew it had never been done before but this man...he just left her there. Lily let out the breath she'd been holding in in anticipation of death that never came.

Lily didn't dare move yet, just in case there were other grounders besides the two she'd heard. Still, Lily had a feeling that no other grounder would treat her as the mysterious one with the antlers.

The sun was almost down and then she'd be able to run into the forest and find a tree to climb. At least if she got to a climbable tree she could have a good vantage point. Even on the ground, Lily relied on the cover of being high off the soil where grounders often played.

The last ray of sun slipped below the horizon and darkness fell. The soothing smell from the lavender kept Lily calm as she waited until she heard the sounds of a normal night in the forest. An owl hooted close by and above Lily, the galaxy shone down from the heavens to illuminate the field. Even with the safety of darkness, Lily still hated being out in the open, especially now that she knew grounders were out and about.

Lily would have to run and run fast so that she wouldn't run into any unwelcome faces. She hoped that Sirius and Marlene had made it back to camp with the rest of the hunting party. Lily didn't blame them for leaving her, they probably thought she was dead. Lily looked forward to hugging Marlene when she walked back into the dropship, unscathed and with an unbelievable story. Sirius would probably call Lily's story bullocks and demand proof. Lil rolled her eyes at the very thought of Sirius' skepticism.

Suddenly, before Lily could sit up from her bed of flowers, she heard heavy footsteps. Once again, Lily's whole body froze up and she wondered if she was finally going to die. No doubt the grounder from earlier had been a miracle and Lily couldn't count on the same thing happening twice.

The tall shadow of a grounder covered her and Lily saw wild black hair amongst a crown of antlers.

It was the grounder, the one that didn't try and kill her.

She didn't know hot to react or what to say so she just stared, awestruck.

"Are you hurt?"

He knelt down closer, his face flush to hers. Lily sat up quickly and scooted backwards, away from his blades and grip. If Lily was surprised by his reappearance, Lily was even more flabbergasted when English fell from his lips. She kept herself still, as if he'd attack her if she moved too fast. The grounder got onto his knees in front of her and slowly put down his blade.

The man seemed to be examining her, studying her, "What's your name?"

Lily's hand reached for a rock only inches away, her fingers curling around it. The man noticed, clearly, but he didn't move away from her.

"Do you speak English?"

Lily managed a nod as she picked up the rock.

The man looked down at the rock in her hand and then, a amused smile lifted his features, making him more human like. He had brown eyes in the dark and they appeared kind. He acted and looked unlike any grounder Lily had ever seen or met. He was calm and spoke English clearly with special attentions to the dialect. Lily didn't know that grounders even spoke English, she'd only really heard them use their dialect.

"I hope that rock is for bashing someone else," his eyes glanced down to her first, "since I saved your life and all."

Lily dropped the rock and it tumbled away from her grip but she kept herself ready to fight with her fists, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He smiled again and the effect was mind numbing.

He was handsome in a rugged and wild sort of way.

"Why didn't you kill me?" she blurted out.

"You didn't start the fight." he stated this as if it were obvious, "And the war between skaikru and trikru is not going to end by floukru killing a woman as interesting as you."

Lily was taken aback by his honesty, "Interesting?"

The man tilted his head at her, "You're very interesting."

"How so?"

The man chuckled, "Well for one, when I found you, you were sleeping in the middle of a war zone."

Lily scoffed, "I wasn't sleeping."

He sent her a doubtful stare, "Yeah, okay."

Lily chewed her lip as her eyes scanned the dark lines of his face, "Why did you come back."

"To make sure you were still alive."

The man looked as relieved as she felt and he glanced around their field once more before offering her a hand.

"We need to go." He said, "there are reapers in the woods at dark."

Lily blinked carefully at his outstretched hand, "who are you?"

"James," He replied, "I am from floukru."

Lily didn't understand, "floukru?"

He nodded and looked encouraged despite the fact that Lily had not taken his outstretched hand, "you have nothing to fear from me."

Lily didn't move, "Then who was screaming, earlier?"

James' hazel eyes grew cold, "Skaikru. A brunette girl with a white scar on her face."

Lily's blood ran cold, "Marie," she pressed her fingers to her cheek in horror, "you killed her."

"I didn't kill her, the trikru man I was traveling with killed her." James said, retracting his hand, "they startled each other, they were hunting for the same deer."

Lily eyed him, "what about the others?"

James snorted, "Tried shooting at me, didn't they? I was running from their guns when I found you."

Lily relaxed, "But they're alive? The boy with the long hair and the girl with blonde hair?"

James nodded, "Skaikru only lost one tonight, but there will be more."

Lily's nails dug into the ground, "What do you mean more—"

"Trikru are hunting Skaikru." He said solemnly, "for blood must have blood."

"Blood must have blood?!" Lily exclaimed loudly and he compelled her to be quiet with a finger to his lips, Lily hissed, "Don't tell me to be quiet. The grounders have killed fourteen of my friends and it hasn't even been two weeks since our people sent us to the ground!"

James glared at her, "your rockets burned one of trikru's villages to the ground and they lost over thirty lives."

Lily stopped short from arguing, "What?"

James' hazel eyes reflected puzzlement, "Wait, you didn't know?"

Lily shook her head quickly, "Of course not."

"Nothing?"

"We only knew our rocket was faulty. We barely made it to the ground." she explained, "the soldiers on the Ark drugged some of us so that we couldn't fight."

James appeared even more perplexed as she kept talking.

"Why would your people force you to come down to the ground?"

Lily shrugged, "They didn't give us the chance to volunteer."

A loud snap from the trees behind James made both of them jump. Silence fell again and Lily swallowed back her fear as she imagined what could be out in the woods at night. James appeared to not want to find out because he held out his hand to her once more, this time with encouragement on his face.

"Please, come with me. I want to learn more about you but we don't want the reapers finding us."

Lily eyed James before she decided she had a better chance at surviving the night with one of the locals than going it alone. Lily took his hand and wasn't surprised to find it was warm as his fingers wrapped around her wrist. He yanked her to her feet with little strain, his eyes looking around them in the dark like he could see through the trees. Suddenly, he was pulling her through the field but in the opposite direction of the dropship. Lily tugged back.

"Wait, my drop ship is back there!"

James shot her a look and continued tugging her in his direction, "I can't get close to Skaikru camp or I'd be killed by Skaikru."

"Then why didn't you kill me?" Lily said as James tugged her into the forest filled with black night, "You've have every right. We're at war."

James shook his head as they dodged trees, "I am floukru not trikru."

"What's the difference?" Lily asked hotly, "Aren't all grounders the same?"

James stopped short and shot Lily a glance, dropping her hand like it had burned him, "Are all skaikru the same?"

Uncomfortable under his disappointed stare, Lily shifted in her shoes, "I suppose not."

His expression softened again, "Why did your people not give you a weapon?"

Lily flushed, "I don't know how to use the guns, I wasn't trained like the rest of them."

James looked disappointed and she didn't know why that made her stomach churn, "You shouldn't travel these forests weaponless, grounders should be the least of your worries."

Lily squinted through the shadows as James reached inside his pelts and pulled out a pretty carved dagger. He held it out to her and she grabbed it, surprised to see the hilt decorated with seashells. She touched the alabone in wonder, having never seen anything like it before. The moonlight filtering through the tree branches made the dagger appear otherworldly. The alabone glowed and the seashells reflected pink and purple colors embedded into their smooth sides.

"It's beautiful." Lily whispered, "The seashells are indescribable...I've never seen the sea."

"Never?"

Lily shook her head as she continued to examine the weapon, "Not from space or from the ground."

James shifted and the leaves ruffled under his feet, "Did they not let you look at Earth in space?"

Lily shook her head, "I was a special case." she whispered.

"Special?" he licked his lips, "Like a queen?"

Lily laughed and looked up at him, amused, "No, I wasn't a queen. I was a prisoner."

James shook his head, "I don't believe it." he said, "Prisoners are dangerous, you are as harmless as a flower."

Lily flushed under his gaze again and dropped her head to examine the seashells one more time. Once she was done admiring his weapon she tried handing it back but James protested.

"Gyon klin haiplana kom Skai."

"What?" Lily asked, furrowing her brow and looking at the grounder.

James chuckled and leaned forward, tucking his hands around hers so that she was holding the dagger tightly, "A gift for the queen of the sky."

Lily lifted her eyes and saw he was staring at her so strangely, affectionately, as if he liked her. Lily chewed her lower lip thoughtfully as she examined the long black tattoo peeking out from underneath his messy hair. It was true, not all the grounders were the same, James was proof of that. He was handsome, with a strong jaw and wicked smile. She loved the way his eyes seemed to smoulder, even in the darkness of the woods.

A snap of twigs behind them made Lily jump and James shoved her behind him suddenly, his sword drawn. Lily stood her ground, peering over James' shoulder, her new dagger pointed at the unseen threat. James shifted, blocking her even more still.

"Ai laik Jayms kom Floukru en ai gaf gouthru klir." James said in a fluid, perfect way that sounded almost regal.

"Jayms kom floukru na hit choda op nodotaim." a voice responded.

A man wearing a dark grey pelt came into view through the dense trees. Lily tucked behind James as James kept his body positioned for attack. The newcomer smiled, showing off a mouth filled with black teeth. Lily didn't want to know how his teeth were turned black. He was the complete opposite of James. He was dangerous. The newcomer spotted that James wasn't alone and he chuckled.

"Another refugee for floukru?" the man spoke in broken english but his voice reminded Lily of nails on the chalkboard, "The commander grows tired of floukru stealing his best warriors."

"Then the commander should stop sending warriors into the mountain to die." James replied smoothly, "Why are you out here, Pietr?"

Peter said darkly, "Reaper patrol."

"I've not seen a reaper since last night and it was by the Skaikru camp." James replied back cooly, twisting the sword in his hand.

The man, Peter, looked around, "Where's your guard?"

James growled, "I have no need of a guard."

"The commander disagreed." Peter examined his dirty fingernails, "He will be interested to hear you've lost your protection."

"I'm afraid I don't do well with babysitters." James sounded annoyed, "Your commander should remember that."

Peter sneered, "You'd better be back in floukru by the next moonrise or the commander will not stall in sending reinforcements."

James' shoulders were squared and Lily saw that the anger seemed to radiate off him, "Threat noted, anything else? If you don't mind, my friend and I have to make it back to my camp so we can leave early enough to make it back to the beaches in time."

"Of course." Peter sounded suddenly bored, "Mind if I share a campfire tonight? I could use another set of eyes."

James froze as he turned to place a hand on Lily's shoulder. Lily could tell James did not trust Peter and that made her heart start pounding in her chest. Her fingers grasped her new dagger in panic. James' hand dug into her shoulder, as if promising her he wouldn't let anything happen.

She'd only known him for a little while but she trusted him with her life since he'd already saved her once.

"I'm afraid that we wanted to be alone." James said, an unmistakable husky drawl to his voice suggesting more than just a quick nap, "we had _plans_ for the night."

"Ah," Peter's tone shifted knowingly and he almost sounded, greedy, "I see."

James started pushing Lily forward, "osir na kamp raun ona tri."

Lily didn't dare speak a word as James pushed her ahead with a dramatized laugh, as if she had spoken to him. As if they were flirting and in love. She didn't dare flinch away when James leaned down to press his lips to the skin of her neck sensually. In fact, she didn't mind it at all when his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders as they stumbled away from Peter. He was playing a ruse, she could see that. He was trying to get them both out of there without fighting.

By the time they were alone again, James' arms lifted from Lily and she had grown cold without the feel of his furs against her bare arms. Taking the hand that wasn't clasping her gifted dagger, James began running through the woods again. Lily didn't complain as they got farther away from her camp-because it meant she was farther away from where Peter was.

"Will he follow us?" Lily asked James worriedly.

James shook his head, "He knows his place, he might be a spy but he's a horrible fighter."

She didn't like Peter. He seemed sneaky and untrustworthy. Lily had a feeling that if James didn't like Peter, she definitely wouldn't like Peter.

Finally, James stopped right below an old overgrown tree with long flowy branches. James tugged her between the branches and Lily was surprised the tree was hiding an entrance to a cave. The walls were covered in ashy drawings of the Earth, mostly stick figures dancing around fires. Below Lily's feet, the ground had tracings of old fire pits. What was most amazing, was the ceiling, because it was covered in a green moss that glowed like a neon night sky through the darkness. The cave was bright enough for Lily to move about freely and examine the drawings etched into the stone.

"Who lived here?" Lily asked when James let go of her hand to shrug off his large pelt.

"I've stayed here a few times in my travels between trikru and floukru." James said, "No one lives here though, at least, not anymore."

When Lily turned back to look at James he'd laid his pelt on the ground and now all he had on were his black trousers, snug on his bare hips. He pulled his crown of antlers off his head next, showing off more of his black messy hair. Lily had been introduced to boys when she landed on the ground. Their drop ship camp was filled with the husky scent of sex and freedom, the kids exploring each other in ways they were never allowed to on the Ark. Lily had been no stranger to the boys at camp, especially after she lost Petunia, but James was a man.

Her mouth ran dry when he leaned down to arrange his pelts to fashion some sort of bed. His shoulders were rounded and he had long black tattoos covering them like tribal designs. Along his chest, a fish swam upstream and she could see a tree etched just above his hip.

"We can sleep here until I take you back to your people tomorrow." he offered, motioning to the pelt, "We're safe here, I promise."

Lily played with her hair and leaned against the cave walls, just watching him. This man, James, he was unlike anything she expected of a grounder. He was gorgeous, dark and with just the right amount of kindness in his hazel eyes that put Lily at ease. James was staring at her too, not caring the way her eyes traced his chest because his own eyes were locked on her face.

"I've never met someone with hair like yours." he straightened and took a few steps towards her, "red, like the kelp in the sea."

Lily reached up to tug a few strands of her auburn hair in front of her eyes, "Another girl in the drop ship has orange hair." she lifted her eyes to see he'd gotten closer and she shifted so her back was firmly against the wall, "she's prettier than I am."

"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." he disagreed, reaching out with tentative fingers to brush the underside of her chin.

"You can't have seen too many women then."

"I've seen plenty of women." he disagreed, "But I can tell that you're special."

Lily licked her lips, "you're quite the charmer, yourself."

He smiled, "It's why I was so desperate to keep that trikru soldier from killing you himself."

"Really?' Lily shivered as his thumb tucked her chin to pull her face up.

"You looked like a goddess amongst those flowers," he murmured, "like the earth had grown you herself, planting you there to lure me in, like a flower among the poisonous weeds."

"Poisonous?" Lily furrowed her brow, "Why poison?"

His eyes were dark and foreboding, "Because it's a tragedy that I can't have something so lovely."

"Who said you _couldn't_ have me?" she hitched her breath when his hand dropped and traced along her collarbone.

James' eyebrows lifted, "the commander won't allow a man like me, to love a woman like you."

Lily twirled another strand of her hair, "I didn't think you seemed like the type to follow the rules." she smiled, "since you did save my life twice today."

James turned his head with piqued interest, "What do they call you, bluma?"

"Lily." she confessed her name quickly, realizing she wanted nothing more than to have a taste of this man...this grounder who had saved her life.

There was flash of amusement across James' face, "blumaripa."

"What?" Lily shook her head, "You know I don't speak-"

"Your name," James said, moving swiftly so that his hips pressed into hers, "it's the flower we use to bury our dead with. The flower of death. Blumaripa."

Lily whispered, "is that bad thing?"

"No," James said firmly, "you have a warriors name."

Lily felt the corners of her mouth tilt up, "I always thought it was a bit plain to tell you the truth."

"You are anything but plain."

Suddenly, James hands reached up to take her cheeks and she felt excitement boil in her stomach. James' eyes, under the glow from the cave moss, looked black. Lily waited, anticipation flooding every pore as he stared at her. It was as if he was waiting for her okay. What kind of grounder waited for permission to kiss a girl he so clearly wanted? And then Lily laughed to herself because what kind of silly girl (who came from a hole in the floor of a space station) would be so willing to bed a grounder?

" _Lily_."

Her eyes shot up to his and his fingers pressed into her skin as he leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips. He pulled back and whispered again, this time in his own language.

" _Blumaripa_."

His lips gently touched her nose, her forehead, her chin and her jaw. All the while he whispered her name in both languages, over and over, like a prayer. Lily felt as if she were being worshiped by his lips, the light touches he granted driving her spare. All the boys at camp had rushed into things, crashed Lily into the ground desperately, as if life would end if they didn't bed her right away. James was different because he acted as if they had forever. That action alone made Lily melt right into his arms.

"You can have me." she whispered when his lips restarted their light worship of her skin, "Really have me, James."

James' lips halted on her jaw, pausing only for a moment.

"I like how you say my name." he confessed, "Jayms but with a little extra-" Lily was about to find his lips herself until, with a clever swirl of his tongue against her skin, she found her fists balling against his chest.

His mouth and tongue slowly trailed to her awaiting lips and when they finally met, fire shot through Lily's bloodstream and her teeth caught James' lip, demanding more. James seemed to lose a bit of his control too once she began kissing him feverishly. His hands left her face, winding up in her hair to pull her face closer so that each sweep of his tongue into her mouth was erotic, wild and sweet. He'd already kissed better than any of the boys at camp, leaving Lily breathless in his arms.

Falling for a grounder was dumb, but falling for James was the easiest choice Lily ever made on the ground.

Lily reached between them with her hands and started unbuttoning her blue sleeveless blouse, her fingers shaking as she did so. James realized what she was doing and he leaned off of her for the few seconds it took them to dispose of the cotton shirt. Once the shirt was off, immediately, James' fingers ran through her tangled hair and down her chest, one hand grabbing at her right breast and the other hand grabbing her hip to push her back into the wall. Lily met his lips halfway to continue catching his tongue between her teeth playfully as his other hand started to undo the button to her trousers. Lily helped James shimmy the trousers off her hips and, still kissing him, stepped out of them. James' lips pulled away from her mouth to travel along her jaw until he reached her earlobe and his teeth nipped her lightheartedly.

Lily shifted one of her legs onto his hip so she could start gyrating herself into him. He was thick and inviting under his trousers, the feeling only working Lily's mood higher. Every pressing movement shot a spark up her spine and she relished the feeling, drowning in it. James' hips bucked involuntarily into hers after she rolled her hips for another desperate charge of electricity and he tore his lips away from her neck, cursing.

She started to try and undo his trousers but he stopped her.

"Not yet."

Confused, Lily blinked at him, "You don't want to?" she was disappointed, she wanted nothing more than for him to lay her down on the floor and press into her.

He was definitely unlike any man she'd ever met.

James chuckled deeply, pressing his forehead against hers, "I do," he promised, his fingers still playing on her breast, "But lets have some fun first."

Lily placed one of her hands on his cheek, "is this some weird, grounder ritual?"

A mischievous glimmer in his eyes, "Skaikru doesn't believe in rewarding it's female warriors, does it?"

"Rewarding?" Lily questioned.

James smirked, pushed her leg down, off his hip and she was disappointed when the friction between them suddenly stopped. Then James dropped to his knees in front of her like he was about to pray. Lily's arms dropped to her sides and she stared at James in confusion. The curve to his smile was everything as his fingers traced the insides of her thighs.

"Try not to scream too loud."

And then his mouth was pushed up against her clit and his tongue was sinking into her, teasing her...worshipping her. Lily suddenly knew why James asked her not to be too loud because a hollow moan escaped her lips as his teeth skimmed her skin, his fingers dug into her hips and his nose pressed into her curls. Lily's moans grew louder and her fingers dug into the cave walls as her hips thrust towards James' warm mouth. He was driving her up the wall, literally. His tongue and mouth were relentlessly pushing her back up and into the rocks as he continued to make her writhe in pleasure.

" _James_."

James pulled away from her suddenly when she moaned his name so clearly, so desperately. His eyes were practically burning at her. She was panting, her fingers were now pressed into his curly hair as he lifted one of her legs, swinging it over his shoulder and changing the angle.

A strangled, repeated cry of his name escaped her lips when his fingers entered her, two at a time and she couldn't help but shift her weight in time to their heavy breathing. James was everything in that moment, guiding his fingers in and out of her body as his mouth continued assaulting her in ways she couldn't have even dreamt about. The back of Lily's head pressed into the rock wall as she rode herself into James' expert touch.

If this was what it was like being with a grounder, Lily didn't ever want to go back to skaikru.

She could feel it, the inexplicable high, it was almost like the moment when she'd stepped onto the ground, only ten times better. James was just using his fingers now, kneeling below her with a satisfied smile as she came biting back a strangled stream of profanities. James finally removed his fingers from between her legs as Lily leaned against the cave wall for support, panting, staring at James like he was godsent.

She half believed he was.

James seemed pleased with himself as he wiped his fingers on his trousers, "I'll take it the boy warriors at your camp never tried that with you."

"Oh, definitely not."

He grin was goofy but pleased, "Not bad for a grounder ritual, eh?"

Lily half laughed, still leaning against the wall. Her body was covered in a sheen of sweat and she felt a little dazed. James stared at Lily, leaning against the wall naked, her eyes tracing him thankfully.

"What are you thinking?" he whispered, standing up straight and reaching to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Lily, my blumrida."

Lily's hand caught his trousers and was happy to see a challenge in his eyes, "I'm thinking that I never want to leave this cave."

"You don't?"

Lily shook her head, brushing her hands through his hair, "Out there everything is so dark and filled with death...but in here? Everything is glowing."

Her hand dropped to draw along the planes of his strong jaw. James leaned his cheek into her cheek, smiling softly. The soft light from the moss on the ceiling of the cave truly seemed to make James' tan skin glow caramel, like the sky as the sun set. She couldn't picture a better moment that should've been captured in a photograph, than James staring at her enchanted under the glow of the cave.

"I never thought I'd feel so strongly for a person from skaikru." he whispered, "Your existence has made me a liar."

They got caught up in each other's arms again, kissing each other slowly, relishing every sweep of tongue and every tug of lips. Lily's hands traced the lines of his body, particularly paying attention to the muscular planes of his chest. She was growing impatient again, his own fingers making a good case to start murmering his name again.

That wasn't acceptable, she wanted him to moan her name.

James helped Lily by pushing his trousers down and kicking them aside. He worked quickly, his hands reaching to tug her hips forward and Lily smiled against his eager lips. Lily continued kissing him as James slowly walked backwards, dragging her with him to the skins on the floor. James guided her down until they were both reclining on the skins. James finally stifled what could've been a moan when Lily moved herself closer so that she could wrap one leg over his hip. Lily twisted so that she was straddling James and his eyes fluttered in appreciation as her fingers traced his length. Lily's resolve to make him moan her name only increased as her hand wrapped around James and he let out a sort of breathy plead.

It wasn't her name, not yet.

Lily let go of him and shifted herself up until she was resting over him, barely touching him. His eyes snapped open again and he stared at her, waiting. They both wanted it, James was breathing heavily, his chest rising a falling in swift strokes. Lily was enjoying the way it felt to have complete control, to have James lifting his hips desperately to meet hers. Chewing on her lip, Lily dropped her hips and they both exhaled as Lily pushed James into her. The feeling was like releasing all the tension in her body and James' hands dug into Lily's hips to get her to start rocking into him. Lily's hips rebounded against his, following his guidance. He still hadn't moaned her name but he had his eyes closed as she rode into him, clenching and finding the movement made his eyes flutter open in a drug-like daze.

"Is this payback?" he asked with a breathy sort of cringe as Lily pulled off him slightly only to come crashing back down.

"Say my name," she pleaded, feeling so ecstatic when his eyes rolled back momentarily.

" _Lily_."

Lily could feel his hands shaking against her, his fingernails digging into her soft skin. She was going to ride him out but then James pushed his hips up and wrapped his legs around her, flipping them so that he was over her, using one hand to keep himself propped up. Lily hitched her breath when he rocked into her again, the shift in bodies making her see stars. James leaned his head down to press his forehead into hers as he pulled back out. Lily gasped at the sensation, her nails digging into James' shoulders as he began pushing back into her methodically. He moved in deep continuous strokes that were soon paired with his fingers rubbing her between her thighs and once again Lily knew how it felt to free fall. Her mind was rushing and she felt a tightening grip in her gut as James' thrusts grew faster and more hand left her clit so he could grip the pelt beneath them with a shaking hold. Their mouths met again but only to mix their moans together.

Lily's hips were rising to meet James' thrusts with eager attention, wanting to break the high, wanting to get so high that she'd have to fall. They were two lovers, dancing in the dark, taking it so far that there was no way they could go back. Lily clenched herself around James again, waiting for the crash. He came, biting back a moan into her shoulder that shook both their bodies but he didn't stop there. One of his shaking hands disappeared between them again and even though Lily felt as if she'd already reached the highest point of the night, she found herself free falling under his touch once again moments later.

They collapsed, James rolling off Lily so that he lay side by side with her instead. They both remained frozen there, staring at the glowing ceiling. His hand found Lily's in the darkness and squeezed.

"Blumaripa, you were named well," he breathed into her ear, "You have been the death of me."

"Back 'atcha." Lily threw her head back against the pelts, with half a laugh as his tongue traced the curve of her ear, "I always knew a grounder would be my end."

"Your end, huh?"

James lifted his lips from her neck so he could look into her eyes. One of his hands brushed through her ratted auburn hair. His own hair was all over the place from her exploring hands. Lily smiled and snuggled closer to her grounder. James seemed pacified by her smile because he drew a soft pelt over their cooling bodies.

"We will be the death of each other." he said, "A floukru and a skaikru."

"We call those starcrossed lovers." Lily placed a hand on his chest, "Romeo and Juliet. The lovers from waring families."

"We call them fools." James whispered back, "The punishment for how we feel for each other is death by eighty slashes from the commander."

Lily shook her head quickly, not wanting to thing about James being hurt. Not now, not ever.

"No one will know." she determined, "I won't tell skaikru. You won't tell trikru."

"I have to go back to floukru." James whispered, "I cannot stay in trikru territory without a reason, the commander already doesn't trust me."

"And I can't go to floukru or they'd hand me over to trikru."

"You would be safe with floukru." James tucked her in closer, "but we'd have to make it to the beach without trikru discovering our-alliance."

Lily breathed in his wild scent, "Where exactly do you live?"

James traced the lines of her face as he spoke in a low voice, "We live on an old oil rig in the middle of the ocean."

"You live in the middle of the ocean?" Lily asked in wonder, her eyes lightening up, "and your people would be okay with me?"

"They'd have to be." James shrugged, "Their prince only wishes for peace between the twelve grounder clans and skaikru."

"Then why isn't your prince commander?" Lily wondered, "Why can't he rally for peace?"

James smiled secretively into her skin, "What do you think I was doing on trikru's land?"

Lily pulled back, his words hitting her, "You." she asked in awe, "You're floukru's prince?"

James placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her before saying, "yes, and now I've found my princess."

Lily tried not to get too hopeful, "certainly you have floukru girls."

James pressed one of his hands between her legs and she gasped as he reminded her, "Suddenly, everyone is irrelevant compared to you, my blumaripa."

Lily tugged his face so he couldn't disappear under the covers, where his lips were dragging themselves, "James, why can't you be commander? Then this fighting would be pointless."

"Commanders must kill for their positions in a conclave, love." James sniffed, removing his hand from between them so Lily could talk without hitching her breath.

"And you didn't win the conclave?"

James sounded annoyed when he replied, "Everyone knows about the prince that ran from his conclave so he wouldn't become the killer they wanted him to be."

Lily's expression softened and her hands caressed his jaw, "That prince sounds like a good man."

"He is." James eyes turned darker amongst the cave glow, "But what about your men? Are your men good warriors?"

"Well," Lily's lips pouted, "That depends who you ask."

"I don't understand." James' hand was tracing patterns up and down her sides but she tried to focus, "A man is either honourable or not."

Lily struggled to explain, "Haven't you wondered why there are no old people in skaikru?"

"Short lifespans?" James guessed.

Lily shook her head, "It's because our elders are still up there." one of her fingers pointed through the pelt and up at the cave ceiling, "All of our warriors. All of our commanders."

James furrowed his brow, "Why did they send you then?" his mouth nipped playfully at her nose, "No offense, but you are the farthest thing from a warrior and I can't imagine them wanting to get rid of someone like you, someone so kind."

Lily played with James' chest, her fingers tracing the curly hairs, "That's just it. We were all expendable."

" I don't know that word?" James tucked one of his legs between her legs, "What does it mean?"

Lily sadly recounted the story, "We were useless James, castaways, troublemakers. Marlene said they were running out of air up there, so they sent 100 of us down here to either die or determine the earth was livable."

"But we're here." James said, "Certainly they knew the earth was livable with us here?"

"Chancellor Dumbledore clearly didn't know grounders were a thing." Lily said, "Or he would've just floated all of us for the greater good and sent his soldiers to the ground instead."

James was quiet, his hand still on her side. They stared at each other through the darkness, just getting used to the feeling of their bodies breathing calmly against each other. Finally, James' hand started tracing patterns on her side again.

"You speak with funny words Lily, kom skaikru."

Lily smiled softly, "So do you, James kom floukru."

"You learn fast."

James chuckled and leaned his face in, pressing his lips to her ear before grabbing the lobe with his teeth and tugging. She loved how confident he was, how different he was. For a girl who grew up in a hole in a spaceship, different was thrilling. He had her wound up in his grasp, blushing as his fingers continued tracing words into her skin until she fell asleep in his embrace.

When she woke up the next morning James was snoring softly into her ear and she was so tightly wound up in his embrace she thought that the world would have to shift to break them apart. Lily slowly kissed him awake and they dressed quietly. James offered Lily some dried meat from his pack and then threw one of his pelts around her shoulders. Lily stared at the pelt in confusion.

"What's this for?" she asked.

James placed a hand on her shoulder, "I did a lot of thinking last night and I decided I don't want to say goodbye to you."

"I don't want to say goodbye either." she breathed thankfully.

"Come with me back to floukru," he begged, sunlight from the cave entrance coloring his face golden, "My second, Remus might be able to help you and the rest of skaikru if you're brave enough to be an ambassador for your people."

Lily paused, "Go?" she asked, "With you? To the ocean?"

"Don't you want to be with me?" he suddenly seemed less confident.

"Of course I do." Lily grabbed his hand before he could retract it, "But I can't let Marlene and Sirius think I'm dead in the woods. I have to go back to at least tell them the plan to help my people."

James shook his head, "You'll be walking right back into trikru's grasp."

"Trust me." Lily said, "Sirius, at least, might help us. He lost his little brother to trikru. He might be open to an alliance with floukru to protect our people."

James' jaw was clenched, she could see the muscle in his jaw pulsing. Lily leaned onto her tiptoes and pressed a warm kiss to James' scruffy cheek.

"You saved my life." she reminded him, "I won't let them hurt you."

"As if they could hurt me." James scoffed, "Your guns do not frighten me."

"They should." Lily placed her hand on his chest, "But nonetheless, we need help for an alliance to work. Sirius is our best bet out of all my people."

"He will come to my home, without his gun?" James asked, "We don't allow weapons on the rig."

"He will if I ask him too," Lily nodded, "I saved his life when we first landed, he owes me too."

James nodded stiffly, "Okay, we go and get your friend and then we make the trek to floukru."

"Anything else?" Lily asked.

"Yes." James leaned down and pressed a hearty kiss to her lips, "If we must bring your friend along then I want to hear you moan my name one more time."

James dropped his pack and skins in a hurried rush before pressing Lily into the rock wall again. Lily met his eager mouth while pelling her clothes off again. Sunshine filtering through tree branches covered them in pale morning sunlight as they pressed into each other at the entrance of the cave fervently. Lily watched the swinging green branches of the trees, mesmerized by their beauty, as James' fingers elicited whimpering that steadily grew into heavy breaths and gasping words.

Lily had dreamed of the ground like it was a fairytale land ready to sweep her away when she'd been on the ark. When she'd made it the the ground it had seemed like heaven, so separated from the metal and steel of the Ark. Now, with James hitching her onto his hips with a possessive growl, Lily thought that maybe she had died and the dropship hadn't made it to earth-because there was no way she could be so blissfully happy when her people were on the verge of war.


End file.
